Prostitute Riding the Scarlet Beast (Part 3)

Brief Background

For those who are just joining us, we are working our way through the book of Revelation. John the son of Zebedee was in exile on the isle of Patmos. Yeshua was revealed to him there, and John was commanded to write to seven communities in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey).

For the last three weeks we have been discussing the Great Prostitute riding the Scarlet Beast in Rev. 17. The first week we summarised the entire chapter and broke down the three basic characters, the Great Prostitute, the Scarlet Beast and the Kings and People of the Earth. We also looked at how the angel defined the symbols to John, and especially how mountains are used throughout the Bible to symbolise nations.

Last we dug further into the Seven heads as Mountains and Kings. Specifically, we covered the dream that was given to Nebuchadnezzar in Dan. 2. And in a very anti-climatic way … forgot the final slide. So before we get into the last few verses of Rev. 17 and discuss the comparison with Dan. 7 I will summarise the progression of the empires.

The easiest way to answer this is to look at a couple of maps.

Babylonian Kingdom

Firstly, the dream in Dan. 2 was given to the king of Babylon, so we need to remember that this dream relates to him and his kingdom.

Medo-Persian Kingdom

The Kingdom of the Medes and the Persians completely conquered the Babylonian Kingdom and swallowed the entire kingdom.

Greek Kingdom

Alexander the Great rapidly overtook the kingdom of Medes and the Persians. However, he died shortly after that and by the 3rd century BC his kingdom had been split between the Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt, the Seleucid kingdom between Turkey and Afghanistan, the Lysimachean kingdom in Bulgaria and the Cassandrian kingdom in Macedonia/modern-day Greece.

Roman Empire

The question I asked last week, was whether not Rome fulfilled Dan. 2:40 ? “Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron shatters and breaks everything—and just as iron smashes everything, so will it shatter and crush all the others.” Did Rome shatter and crush all the other empires? So, if Rome didn’t conquer the entire kingdom of Babylon, Medo-Persia or the whole Greek Empire, then what is the next candidate?

Islamic Caliphate

Here is the picture that I did not have last week.

The Islamic Caliphate ruled from the time of Mohammad and grew over the next 13 centuries to cover the entire Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Greek empires. And just as the Greeks had done before, the Islamic empire was “successful in imposing its own culture (Arab), religion (Islam), and its own language (Arabic).” This Islamic Kingdom (or Caliphate) did not end until 1924.

We will now pick up from there by reading Rev. 17:15-18

Revelation 17:15–18 TLV

Then he tells me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. The ten horns that you saw, and the beast—these will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to do His will, and to be of one mind, and to give their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is the great city exercising kingship over the kings of the earth.”

Enmity between the Enemy

Here we see that the relationship between the Great Prostitute and the Scarlet Beast is tenuous at best. Here we see that the angel explains to John that the Great Prostitute represents a great city that exercises kingship over the rulers of the earth (Rev. 17:18). This city will be wealthy and immoral. It will be a place or trade, commerce, prosperity and despair.

It seems that initially this city is allied with the final world empire, the Scarlet Beast. There will be a connection between the two just as John saw the Great Prostitute riding on the back of the Scarlet Beast.

However, this connection seems to be one of utility, and eventually the final world empire will turn on this city. John is told that the Beast “hates” the Prostitute. This reveals that there is something about this city that the Beast finds repulsive.

This throws a wrench in the works and creates a bit of a difficulty to interpret. If this city, Babylon the Great, is necessary to the final empire, then why does the empire bring it to ruin, leave it empty and consume it with fire?

This does not seem to follow the normal way that an empire would treat it’s own capital city. I see several different points.

Ezekiel’s Perspective

The prophet Ezekiel, when prophesying judgement against Jerusalem states this in Eze. 16:37-39:

Ezekiel 16:37–39 TLV

therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers—those you have pleased and all those you have loved, with all them that you have hated. I will gather them against you from every side. I will expose your nakedness to them, so they may all see your nakedness. So I will judge you, as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged. Then I will bring on you the blood of fury and jealousy. I will give you into their hand. They will tear down your mound and break down your high places. They will strip you of your clothes and take your jewelry. They will leave you naked and bare.

This is painful language to hear especially since we know that Adonai fulfilled this word through the Babylonians. Jerusalem was in covenant with Adonai, and therefore Adonai, through the prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah, treated the nation of Judah and Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife. The judgement from Adonai includes a jealous anger and fury that the prophets picked up on.

When we look at the passage in Revelation, we see that at least one of the reasons for the Beast turning on the Babylon the Great, is that “God put it in their hearts to do what will fulfill his purpose.” (Rev. 17:17, CJB)

Adonai is the same today as he was then. We can see that he will deal with the world in the same way that he dealt with the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The emotive language in Revelation mirrors the description there in Ezekiel.

Confusion

Another point is that there are many times that Adonai has struck His enemies with confusion. We see in Gen. 11 that Adonai struck the city of Babel with confusion of language, to accomplish His purposes and to disband the people.

We see in the story of Joshua, Jos. 10, that Adonai “threw them into confusion before Israel” and defeated the enemies of Beni Yisrael. But the passage I want to focus on is in 2 Chron. 20:21-23

2 Chronicles 20:21–23 TLV

After consulting with the people, he appointed singers to Adonai praising the splendor of His holiness, as they went out before the army saying, “Praise Adonai, for His mercy endures forever.” As they began singing and praising, Adonai set ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated. For the Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to exterminate and annihilate them. When they had exterminated the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

Here we see King Jehoshaphat is worshiping and praising Adonai, and obediently sending out the worshipers in front of the armies. This battle against the Ammonites, Moabites and inhabitants of Mount Seir (modern day Jordan) was won spiritually. Adonai’s method of bringing about victory was to set the enemies of Israel against each other.

One of the ways that Adonai brings about His judgement upon a sinful nation, is by causing the nation to implode. This partly due to the destructive nature of sin, and partly due to Adonai’s judgement against the sin.

Daniel’s Vision

Another passage that provides us clarity on the enemy destroying itself is the vision of the four beasts in Dan. 7 :4-8

Daniel 7:4–8 TLV

“The first was like a lion with eagle’s wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted off the ground. It was made to stand upon two feet like a man, and the heart of a human was given to it. “And behold there before me was another beast, a second one, like a bear. It raised itself up on one side; it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’ “After that I looked, and behold, there was another one like a leopard. On its back it had four wings like those of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. “After this in my vision at night, I looked and behold there was a fourth beast—terrifying, frightening, tremendously strong, with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed—and anything that was left it trampled with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that came before it; it had ten horns. “While I was pondering the horns, behold, another horn, a small one, sprang up between them, and three of the first horns were uprooted from before it. And behold, this horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking boastfully.

This vision of Daniel occurred years after the dream that was given to Nebuchadnezzar, however Joel Richardson, in quoting John Walvoord says:

Mideast Beast, The Scriptural Case for an Islamic Antichrist, Joel Richardson, p. 79-80

[Most scholars today] whether liberal or conservative, generally have agreed that chapter 7 is in some sense a recapitulation of chapter 2 and cover the same four empires.”

Most also agree that the lion represents the kingdom of Babylon, the bear represents the Medo-Persian kingdom, the four-headed leopard represents the empire of Greece. The disagreement, as we mentioned last week, comes from who the fourth beast in Daniel’s vision represents. Many scholars say that this fourth beast represents the Roman empire, however, does Rome do what the fourth beast does?

Daniel sees that the fourth beast Dan. 7:7 “devoured and crushed—and anything that was left it trampled with its feet." Later on an angel explains to Daniel that Dan. 7:23

Daniel 7:23 TLV

“Thus he explained: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on earth that will be different from all the other kingdoms. It will devour the whole earth, and trample it and crush it.

The question is, “Did Rome crush all the empires before it?” Well, not really. In the areas that Rome did conquer, they basically allowed the cultures to remain. For instance, the reason that the New Covenant texts were written in Greek, is because Rome basically adopted the Greek language. Rome also adopted the Greek gods, and in many ways the Greek culture. And in most areas around the Mediterranean, there was peace and prosperity.

Also, we showed earlier that Rome did not take over the previous kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Media and the follow-on kingdoms of the Parthians and Sasaanids.

Islamic Expansion

However, when Muhammed began his conquest it was quite a different story. You can see from this map, that Muhammed only took over the Arabian Peninsula, however the next two rulers in succession expanded that empire to include all of the Babylonian, Medo-Persian and most of the Greek Empires. This expansion slowed down by about 750 AD.

Extent of the Ottoman Empire

As each new Calif came to the throne, the empire of Islam continued to grow. This expansion went on to include all of Turkey, Greece and the Balkans under the Ottoman empire. The Ottoman empire was at its greatest in about 1566 AD.

So back to the original question, “Did the Islamic empire completely crush the previous empires?” Well, yes. Not only did Islam change the laws and practices of every country that was conquered, but they also changed the religion and language.

Also, Is this an empire that is completely strong, like iron, or is it brittle like baked clay? Joel Richardson puts it this way:

Mideast Beast, The Scriptural Case for an Islamic Antichrist, Joel Richardson, p. 70

Shortly after Muhammad died, a division broke out between the Shi’a (the minority sect, roughly 14 percent of all Muslims), who felt that the successorship belonged to Muhammad’s relatives, and the Sunnis, (the majority sect, 86 percent of all Muslims), who felt that the successorship belonged to Muhammad’s companions, or the Sahabah.

To this day the bloodiest conflicts in the Middle East have been a result of wars between the Shi’a and the Sunnis. So we see that the Islamic kingdom meets the criteria of the dream that was given to Nebuchadnezzar.

Angel’s Interpretation

Coming back to Daniel’s vision in Dan. 7, we see this internal conflict described by the prominent horn. This horn springs us and uproots three other horns of the same beast. The angel explains that this ruler, who most people understand as The Antichrist or the Other Messiah, subdues three of the kings. This leader then goes on in Dan. 7:25

Daniel 7:25 TLV

He will speak words against the Most High, and will continually harass the kedoshim of the Most High, and will try to change the appointed times and law. The kedoshim will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.

This is additional information from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, as we are told some details about the final leadership of this final empire. This leader will speak against the Lord God Almighty, continually harass the kedoshim of Adonai, and will change the appointed times and law.

It is understandable that from this passage many people look at how the Catholic Church changed the Biblical appointed times and feasts and the law. And it is true that especially Constantine moved the feast days away from the Biblical calendar. And while I disagree with the change of the appointed times and laws, I cannot find a specific time where the Catholic Church has publicly, brazenly spoken against the Lord God Almighty. There may be individuals who go against what Adonai has said in His word, but I have not seen any public stance of the Catholic Church that is brazenly mocking God.

However Islam is another story. In every instance of victory the Muslim cry is “Allahu Akbar”. Many people think that they are saying “God is great” but in actuality they are crying “God is greater.” Greater than who?

The Jewish Position

What is interesting is that most of the Jewish Rabbis have long understood that the final, ten-horned kingdom is actually an Arab or Middle Eastern kingdom. Here is a commentary on the Midrash:

Richardson quoting Ezekiel, a Commentary Anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic and Rabbinic Sources, p. 86

The Midrash comments that these ten horns symbolize ten kings of the Fourth Kingdom, and the eleventh horn is the final king whom Israel will confront. All these kings , the Midrash stresses, are to be descendants of Esau. The implication is that the king and initiator of the campaign against Israel will be from Esau-Edom.

Application for Today

If we stop there, we have missed the best part. When you read through Revelation, make sure you read to the end. The same is true for this prophesy in Daniel.

Three different times, Daniel goes into a description of Adonai and his victory over this final world empire. One of those times is Dan. 7:11-14

Daniel 7:11–14 TLV

“I kept watching because of the boastful words that the horn was speaking. I continued watching until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion had been taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. “I was watching in the night visions. Behold, One like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days, and was brought into His presence. Dominion, glory and sovereignty were given to Him that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will never pass away, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

In the middle of all the unrest that we are going through, and in the middle of the difficult times that are coming, we must remember to read the end of the book!

Yes, we see that an Anti-Messianic kingdom is being established. And although we may not all agree on who each player is, we can absolutely agree that the Kingdom of Darkness is not resting.

But we must remember that we serve the Son of Man, Yeshua the Messiah! We are a part of His Kingdom of Light.

Yeshua has been promised an everlasting kingdom, where every people, nation, tribe and tongue will serve Him. And we are a part of that kingdom!

Paul tells us to walk in humility and consider others as more important than ourselves. He says in Phil. 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5–11 TLV

Have this attitude in yourselves, which also was in Messiah Yeshua, Who, though existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be grasped. But He emptied Himself— taking on the form of a slave, becoming the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself— becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and every tongue profess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord— to the glory of God the Father.

Let us all become like our beautiful Messiah, and humble ourselves, serve the King of kings, and glorify Adonai through all that we do! Amen?!